美国索尔克生物研究所Eiman Azim研究组发现用于执行灵巧运动的触觉反馈调制。2021年10月15日出版的《科学》杂志发表了这项成果。

他们发现小鼠触觉传入在脑干楔形核中招募神经元，其活动受不同类别的局部抑制性神经元调节。操纵这些抑制回路会抑制或增强触觉信息的传递，从而影响手动行为。自上而下的皮层通路以互补模式支配楔骨，体感皮层神经元靶向楔骨的核心触觉区域和大量的喙皮质群体，通过抑制壳驱动前馈抑制触觉传递。这些发现确定了触觉反馈调制的回路基础，使灵巧运动的有效执行成为可能。

据介绍，尽管灵巧性依赖于感官信息的持续传递，但未经检查的反馈可能具有破坏性。然而，如何调节手的体感反馈以及这种调节是否影响运动仍不清楚。

附：英文原文

Title: Modulation of tactile feedback for the execution of dexterous movement

Author: James M. Conner, Andrew Bohannon, Masakazu Igarashi, James Taniguchi, Nicholas Baltar, Eiman Azim

Issue&Volume: 2021-10-15

Abstract: Although dexterity relies on the constant transmission of sensory information, unchecked feedback can be disruptive. Yet how somatosensory feedback from the hands is regulated and whether this modulation influences movement remain unclear. We found that mouse tactile afferents recruit neurons in the brainstem cuneate nucleus, whose activity is modulated by distinct classes of local inhibitory neurons. Manipulation of these inhibitory circuits suppresses or enhances the transmission of tactile information, which affects manual behaviors. Top-down cortical pathways innervate cuneate in a complementary pattern, with somatosensory cortical neurons targeting the core tactile region of cuneate and a large rostral cortical population driving feed-forward inhibition of tactile transmission through an inhibitory shell. These findings identify a circuit basis for tactile feedback modulation that enables the effective execution of dexterous movement.

DOI: abh1123

Source: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abh1123